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RESOLUTIONS 

*°py 1 the Republican Citizens of Boston. 

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AT a numerous and respectable meeting 1 of ihc Republican Citizens 
of the town of Boston, assembled in three districts, on Monday the 19th 
of December, 1808, the following RESOLUTIONS were adopted, with 
only two dissenting voices ; and a Delegation of four members from eacli 
Ward was then chosen to publish the said Resolutions, with a suitable 
introduction. 

At a meeting of said Delegates, on Tuesday the 20th of December, 
it was voted, unanimously, that the following Introduction do accompany 
the said Resolutions, signed by the Chairman and Secretary. 



VV E live under a government, depending, more thati 
any other with which we are acquainted, on the confidence and 
affections of the people. Whatever speculative objections may 
be raised against the practicability or permanency of our Consti- 
tution, an experience of a full quarter of a century has proved to 
us its blessings, superior in degree to those enjoyed by any other 
portion of the earth. Not to feel and acknowledge them would be- 
tray our in r ratitude ; and not to cherish the institutions, by which 
those bles> ags have been secured, would discover ignorance and 
insensibility. 

To such a government it is peculiarly incident to encounter 
strong and conflicting opinions upon every great and important 
crisis. Through contests of this nature we have repeatedly pass- 
ed, since the close of our revolutionary war. The subjects, upon 
which our principal diversities of opinion have heretofore arisen, 
have related to questions of internal arrangements and local ad- 
ministration. We have been Republicans and Federalists, differ- 
ing from each other on varieties of principle and conduct, as ap- 
plicable to our own government ; our controversies, inflamed by 
the warmth and zeal of the disputants, and assuming, at times, a 
spirit of bitterness and violence, which have excited concern and 
anxiety in men of reflection of all parties. 

Through all these conflicts, and under the ebb, and flow of opin- 
ions which have divided us, the prosperity of the country has ad- 
vanced in a regular progression ; our commerce has been ex- 
tended, and our essential rights have been preserved. 






In our intercourse with foreign powers, we have had many dif- 
ficulties to surmount, many injuries to suffer, and many satisfac- 
tions to obtain. The two most powerful nations of the earth are 
those with whom our relations were most extensive. Since the 
establishment of our present national constitution, they have been 
almost constantly at war with each other. We have in times past 
been on both sides allured to espouse their respective causes. In- 
dividuals among us have had their partialities for the one or the 
other of the belligerents ; and these partialities, strengthened by 
the operations of prejudice, feelings, or interest, have unhappily 
found their way into our own concerns. 

But the great principle of American Neutrality to European War, 
which has been pursued with inflexible perseverance through all 
the changes of men and of opinions, which we have yet undergone, 
constitutes the ground on which our maritime rights depend. 

During the war which terminated in the peace of Amiens, that. 
neutrality, though often violated by both parties, was eventually 
maintained and acquiesced in by both. Since the renewal of 
hostilities, it Avas again acquiesced in by both, in the first instance ; 
but, as the war progressed, the violation of all neutrality became 
more and more aggravated and atrocious, until, by a sort of con- 
cert to destroy all right and justice, and as if determined there 
should be no peace on earth, while they were at war, both have 
inflicted the rigors of Avar upon every thing within their grasp. 

In the midst of all their outrages, it is remarkable that neither 
of the belligerents pretends to have resorted to them for any of- 
fence or injury committed by the United States ; each asserting 
that its measures Avere intended to retaliate on its enemy, and that 
the injuries arising to us were incidental, and such as could not 
be avoided. 

From this unequivocal avowal of both parties, it might have 
been expected, that the heart and mind of every American would 
have been united in a cause, which is most truly the cause of 
this country ; that every citizen avouM have felt, that it Avas 
not a question of partiality for or against either of them ; that it 
had no concern Avith the pretensions of tAVO rival candidates for 
office among ourselves, nor with the divisions and altercations be- 
tween the parties stiled federal and republican ; and that it 
could not have entered into the consideration, whether the South- 
ern and Western, or Northern and Eastern States had assigned to 
them, by the federal constitution, a few grains too much or too 
little influence, from the number of their votes in Congress. It 
was the cause of America against two powerful European 7iations, 
who had made war upon her ventral rights. The rights of this 
nation are at stake. The question is, Shall those rights be main- 
tained ? And those, who think to decide it by flattering the inter- 
ests, and stirring the contracted passions of individuals, or by 
raising the local jealousies of towns and states, discover an equal 
•want of principle and understanding. 



And yet there have been those, who, perceiving nothing- in the 
cause of their country but an occasion to promote the purposes of 
a party, have taken a side against their country ; because they 
hated the administration ; who, under the most glaring and un- 
satisfied outrages of one power, have been able to discern nothing 
but faults .of etiquette and punctilio in their own government ; and 
who have expected to raise themselves to power and censequence 
by becoming the apologists of those aggressions, and by charging, 
without evidence, and now in the face of evidence, a gross and 
culpable partiality on the Executive and Legislature of the Union. 

At the first moment when the contemplated ruin to our com- 
merce was discovered, Congress, by the express recommendation 
of the President, wrested all our commercial ptoperty from the 
rapacity of its enemies by the embargo. The immense amount 
of the wealth thus saved is of public notoriety ; while the certainty, 
that, but for this precaution, it would have fallen into their hands, 
is proved by the fate of that portion of the trade which left our 
ports immediately before the embargo was laid. 

Negotiation with both the offending nations has been held and 
continued from that time. Every thing that justice and right could 
urge ; every thing that a spirit of peace and sincerity could sug- 
gest, has been attempted, to obtain such a relaxation of their de- 
crees and orders, as should make them consistent with our neutral 
rights. The appeal to their reason has been fruitless. And the 
choice between war against both, and a continuance of the suspen- 
sion of our trade with them, appears again to be returned upon us. 

In this state of things, a party has made its appearance, which, 
not satisfied with having encouraged and excused the aggressions 
of a foreign power, have attempted a kind of coercion on the 
government of their own country, to surrender the essential rights 
of the nation ; threatening to break out in acts of violence against 
the laws. Meetings of individuals adhering to this party have 
been held. Resolutions, in our opinion highly injurious to the 
national character, and at war with the genius of the constitution, 
have been passed and published ; a spirit of insubordination has 
been encouraged ; and in one of these proceedings a plain and in- 
telligible appeal is made to the Legislature of this state to inter- 
pose their influence and authority in aid of its measures. 

As supporters of the constitution and laws, and disclaiming 
every idea of disrespect to the legislative assembly of our own 
state, we wish always to speak with deference of their proceedings. 
To the measures recently adopted by a majority of that body, on 
the subject of our foreign relations, it is impossible for us to yield 
our assent ; nor can we withhold from the minority on that occa- 
sion the tribute of our acknowledgement, for refusing their sanc- 
tion to sentiments which we never can share ; and which, if ex- 
pressed by any other than an authority we delight to honor, we should 
reject with indignation. We will still hope that the spirit of party 
will never gain an ascendency over the public interests, and that 



LIBRARY OF COKGRECC 

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011 838 475 1 

the members of the state governments will think their own author- 
ity best entitled to a cheerful and prompt obedience, when it most 
accords with the rights and powers of the federal compact. 

Feeling in common with our fellow-citizens the pressure and 
privations of our national situation, we have neither doubt nor hes- 
itancy in declaring our opinion of the causes to which alone they 
are to be imputed ; nor shall we aggravate these calamities by 
joining with the foreign oppressors against our own country. Our 
confidence in the sincerity and impartiality of our national govern- 
ment is confirmed by their publication of facts, which remove all 
doubt, and ought to silence all slander. In this difficult and dan- 
gerous crisis, we rejoice to find they have discovered that firm, 
unbroken spirit, which alone can conduct a nation through scenes 
of adversity ; and in adopting the following resolutions, it is our 
intention to give to them and to the world a solemn pledge of our 
confidence and support. 

1st. Resolved, as the sense of this ?neeting... r Fhat the embarrass-- 
ments and distress of the citizens, in consequence of the suspen- 
sion of commerce, are to be ascribed to the decrees and orders of 
Great Britain and France, and not to any offence or injury on the 
part of the government or people of the United States. 

2d. Resolved. ..That the measures adopted by the Executive 
and Congress, to maintain the rights and interests, the honor and 
independence of the nation, have been dictated by sound policy, 
and pursued with impartiality, and a sincere regard to our peace 
and happiness. 

3d. Resolved. ..That, at this important crisis of our affairs, every 
attempt to alienate the public confidence in the constituted au- 
thorities of the nation ; every encouragement or proposal to resist 
the laws, and to sever the union of these States, is criminal in the 
highest degree, and ought to be met with indignation and abhor 
rence by every friend of his country. 

4th. Resolved. ..That satisfaction for the outrage on the frigate 
Chesapeake has not been made ; and that the proposal to procure 
the rescinding of the Proclamation of the President, as a prelimi- 
nary to reparation for that offence, is insulting to the honor of this 
nation. 

5th. Resolved. ..That, as it is the duty of every citizen, more es- 
pecially in times of danger, to rally round the government of his 
country, as the only constitutional organ of defence and safety, we 
hereby pledge ourselves to the Government under which we live. 
So long as they remain true to the rights and independence of the 
nation, so long shall they receive our cordial support to such laws 
as they may enact, and such measures as they may adopt, to pro- 
tect these invaluable blessings. 

WILLIAM EUSTIS, Chairman. 

Caleb Bingham, Secretary. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 838 475 1 



Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1955 



